bar ends

[old al]

Question for the mountain bike riders.

I'm a road rider mainly but I do occasionally take my single speed mountain bike out for a run. I use bar ends on the bike.

I have been watching the mountain bike racing on SBS's "Cyling Central" and I have noticed that the riders no longer use bar ends. Is there a new rule banning them in racing or have they just gone out of fashion?

Al.

[Nobody]

Out of fashion.

[trailgumby]

Yep, that's it. There's a tendency for them to catch on shrubbery as well.

Not being the kind of bloke to give a fetid dingoes kidney about fashion if I find something useful, I didn't stop using them until two years ago when I shattered my hand against mine when I got taken out by a bike hater riding to work. They were uncomfortable and made me nervouse when I eventually returned to the bike, so I took them off.

Don't really notice their absence these days, to be honest.

[old al]

Strange thing fashion. I find my bar ends invaluable when out of the saddle on big climbs. Still, they are the pro's so they must know something I don't.

Al.

[Nobody]

You might find this article interesting:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/p ... eed-27076/

[Mulger bill]

I became "fashionable" after I went to a dually. I gave it a chance but I'm regretting giving those bar ends away.

[ireland57]

The first thing I took off my "old" bike to put on the new one was the bar ends.

They help me control my hands on the long unrelenting climbs. I.e. with the bar ends I rest my hands (like playing the piano as the saying goes) but without them I hang on tighter.
I love 'em.

Pro's shed every bit of bike weight they can. Add to that they have much stronger back/corelegs and find climbing easier in that regard.

[HappyHumber]

On the couple of old clanger MTBs I've put together - more for casual street riding & general hack purposes I still like them as they add versatility to plain old flat bars, in terms of more varied hand positions for lax riding. But I wouldn't put them on a fresh proper offroad / single track / XC bike build for the various reasons stated.

Use what works for you. The author would like state opinions herein are his own.. Any resemblence to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. No animals were harmed in the composition of this e-mail.

[silentbutdeadly]

I'm using Ergon grips with integrated bar ends on my Giant Anthem. They were originally fitted to the OE flat bar in an effort to make the flat bar comfortable. Was only partially successful. They are now attached to a Ragely Carnegie riser alt bar that is much much better.

However, now the bar ends angle slightly outwards and the veg is much more likely to catch in the end or across my fingers (wasn't a real problem on the flat bar).

This problem will soon be solved by yet another Carnegie bar. This time a -ve riser that will be fitted to a new cross commuter. The bar end grips will be fitted to this bike and the Anthem will get a new pair of plain Ergon GS1 grips.

Fashionable...

[reags]

I've only just started using my Ergons yesterday due to our lovely Summer of Sydney weather but so far I'm finding it invaluable - the ends really help on hills and hand for re-positioning comfort which is a must for me with arthritis.

[Bentnose]

I stopped using bar ends after they caught on a tree and got I flung of the bike backwards, tearing my elbow open quite badly. I've also had start line stacks with people when our bar ends got tangled together. I prefer not to use them for any off road riding.

[Nobody]

I sometimes found the opposite with bar ends that angle in. When I got really tired near the end of a MTB race (at least I used to ) if I got too tired to control the bike properly on single track I could bounce off the tree trunks rather than have the bar catch on them. Depends on the terrain.

Wide "wing bars" used for all-mountain etc are angled all wrong to take bar ends.

[jbchybridrider]

I like them for standing up on hill climbs and for an extra hand position on long straight stretches but my MTB bike is setup most of the time as a hybrid so dosent see much off road.

[Bentnose]

You've got to remember that race courses in ye olden days tended to be more wide open and single track was a rarity, so bar ends were a good idea. With increased amounts of tight single track they become less useful and possibly dangerous.

[toolonglegs]

How old are we talking here?... All the race tracks I remember from the nineties where much tighter and gnarlier than anything I see today ( or when I left oz in 2008.

[aeroslave]

Guys.....its all about preference. Enduro magazine has some pros have it...some don't.

Personal Preferences. Period. Case closed.

[Bentnose]

How old are we talking here?... All the race tracks I remember from the nineties where much tighter and gnarlier than anything I see today ( or when I left oz in 2008.

Whereabouts did you race Toolonlegs? As far as I remember in Victoria, up until the year 2000 there were less singletrack and the challenge quite often came more from the terrain itself being quite severe, eg. bigs ruts or very rough, were you had to pick your lines carefully. These days I find the tracks tend to be narrower with fairly groomed trails specifically built for MTB's, although I don't think they improved the racing. I know racing with the Geelong mountain bike club, before they started racing at Ballan and got ready access to the You Yangs to build tracks, a lot of their races were on fire road pretty much exclusively, bar ends were the order of the day.

[toolonglegs]

I was in Sydney...all the XC courses were pretty techie with loads of single track ( waterfall, megalong, wonderland, Oxford falls ... To name few for all you oldies ).
On the bar ends I never realized how much traction they gave you until I started torquing on the cx bike with the hoods in a similar manner, only way to get up the steep stuff with 30 mm tyres as standing up you loose all traction. You can ride Mtb's in cyclocross but bar ends are banned.